Liquid-container closer with liquid dispenser



Dec. 26, 1933. c. R. MILLER LIQUID CONTAINER CLOSER wIIH LIQUID DIsPENsER Filed Jan. l2, 1933 gmc/nto@ CHHQLE; F?, MILLER,

ai www Patented Dec. 26, 1933 LIQUID-CONTAINER CLOSER WITH LIQUID DISPENSER Charles R. Miller, Indianapolis, Ind., assignor to Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, Ind., a

corporation of Indiana Application January 12,1933. seria1N0.651,s41

1 claim.

It is the /object of my invention to provide a combined liquid-container closer and liquid dispenser which may be readily put in place and taken apart as a unit, which effectively seals the mouth of the associated liquid container, and of which the parts are not readily separable from each other but are loosely inter-associated so that they may easily adjust themselves to each other.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a removable cap for separable association with the top of a liquid container, such as a bottle, as by mating screw-threads; and mount loosely in the cap a resilient member, such as a rubber bulb, which carries the liquid dispenser-such as a medicine dropper or applicator-and which has an outwardly projecting ilange which co-operates with an inwardly projecting flange on the cap to provide a washer which is clampable in place between the cap and the mouth of the liquid container to form a seal for such mouth. The looseness between the cap and the resilient member permits them to accommodate themselves to each other and to the container-mouth, to produce a better sealing action; but the resilient member is normally held from separation from the cap by mechanism which does not interfere with the relative movement between the two, such as a projecting portion or portions which loosely overlie the upper face of the cap.

The accompanying drawing illustrates my invention: Fig.1 is an elevation of a medicine bottle equipped with my improved closer and medicine dropper; Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical central section through the upper portion of Fig. l1; Fig. 3 is a plan of the cap and bulb shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is an elevation of the cap and dropper of Fig. l, dissociated from the bottle; Fig. v5 is a, fragmental view of a modication of the bulb of the medicine dropper; Fig. 6 is a plan of the bulb shown in Fig. 5; and Fig. '7 is a. central vertical-section through a screw-cap and a medicine applicator of the solid-rod type, with a solid-rubber handle that is associated with the cap in the same way as the bulb of Figs. 1 to 4` is so associated.

The liquid container 10 is shown as a bottle, and may be of any usual type, such as is usually .associated with medicine droppers, with its neck provided with the usual screw-threads 11 and terminating in a ilat mouth 12.

A screw-cap 13 is internally threaded to cooperate with the threads 11 of the bottle-neck, and its upper end is provided with a central opening 15 therethrough, thus leaving at the upper (Cl. 12S-233) end of the cap an inwardly projecting annular flange 14.

A resilient member is loosely mounted in this opening 15, so that it is movable fairly freely with respect to the cap 13. rIhis resilient member may be and desirably is a compressible rubber bulb 16, as in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6; butl it may be a solid-rubber member 17, as in Fig.

7. If it is a compressible rubber bulb 16, it carries the usual medicine-dropper tube 18; as by 65 being provided with an internal circumferential groove 19 in which an out-turned flange 20 on the upper end of the tube 18 flts. If it is a solid-rubber member 17, as in Fig. '7, it has a rod 21 xed in it, to serve as an applicator in the 7G usual manner. The medicine-dropper tube 18 and the applicator rod 21 are usually of glass, but not necessarily so.

In either instance, whether the resilient member is a compressible bulb 16 or a solid-rubber 'g5 member 17, it has an outwardly extending ange 25 which .underlies the inwardly projecting flange 14 of the cap, and an outwardly extending series of projections 26 which overlies such flange 14. The space between the flange 25 and the series 3g of projections l26 is somewhat greater than the thickness of the flange 14, and the bulb 16 or solid-rubber member 1'7 is of smaller diameter between the ange 25 and such projection 16 than is the opening 15; so that the resilient memg5 ber and the screw-cap 13 have a limited movement with respect to each other in all direc` tions-axially, transversely, and tiltably. Yet the cap 13 and the medicine dropper or applicator are held from falling apart, so thatthey may be removed and put back in place as a unit.

When the screw-cap 13 is screwed in place on the bottle, the flange 14 of the screw-cap presses down on the flange 25 of the resilient member 16 or 17, and presses such flange 25 against the 95 at mouth 12 of the bottle, to form an effective seal. In this action, the resilient member and the screw-cap automatically adjust themselves to each other and to the bottle-top as may be necessary to produce such sealing action.

Desirably the members 26 are a circumferential series of bosses, flat on their under faces and tapering on their upper faces so that they are somewhat in the form of wedges. This facilitates putting the resilient member 16 or 17 in place 105 through the opening 15, and tends to prevent the accidental separation of the two, although it does not prevent theiry intentional separation if that is necessary for any reason. Ordinarily such separation is not necessary.

Instead of the circumferential series of rubber projections or bulbs 26, a continuous circumferential flange 27 may be provided, as is shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The space between the flanges 25 and 27 in this case is substantially the same as that between the flange 25 and the projection 26; so that the inwardly projecting ilange 14 of the screw-cap may be loose between such two flanges 25 and 27.

The resilient member-compressible bulb 16 or so1id-rubber member l'l-is shown as having a short downward projection 30 into the mouth of the bottle. This is not essential; but if it is used it is desirable that it should not fit tight in the bottle-mouth, so that interference with relative movement between the resilient member and the cap 14 may be more certainly avoided.

I claim as my invention:

In combination with a liquid container having a. neck, a cap attachably and removably associated with said neck and having an opening through its upper end to provide -an inwardly projecting annular flange, a resilient member extending through the opening in the cap but of smallerl diameter than such opening, said resilient member being provided with an outwardly extending ange which underlies the inwardly projecting ilange of the cap to lie between and engage both said inwardly projecting ange and the mouth of the liquid container when the cap is in place on said liquid container, said resilient member also being provided with an outwardly projecting portion which overlies the inwardly projecting flange of the cap in position to engage said inwardly projecting flange when the cap is removed from the liquid container but which is spaced from the first-named ange of the resilient member by a greater distance than the thickness of the inwardly projecting flange of the cap, and a member carried by said resilient member and projecting downward therefrom into the liquid container.

CHARLES R. MILLER. 

